• Login
  • Contact
  • Employment

Contact Us

  •   1(877)376-5465
      [email protected]

    Head Office

    SUITE 110 - 93 Lombard Ave.
    Winnipeg, Manitoba
    R3B 3B1 Canada


  • Message Form

    Name*

    Email*

    Phone

    City / Town

    Message

  • FarmLinkFarmLinkFarmLinkFarmLink
    • Solutions
    • Team
    • Blog
    • Crop Tour
    • History

    Rain, Rotation, & Rays of Hope in Southwestern Saskatchewan

      Browse

      Jul 28,2020

      By: Dan Hawkins

      By: Dan Hawkins

      Rain, Rotation, & Rays of Hope in Southwestern Saskatchewan

      Filed under Blog and tagged as No tags.

      Rain, Rotation, & Rays of Hope in Southwestern Saskatchewan

      Widespread Anticipation for Yield and Quality at Harvest

      Four days and 1,600 km later in Southwest Saskatchewan, here are my observations from the field.

      Crop Staging

      Many crops are behind where they typically are this time of year. Most farmers were delayed this spring, only getting to the fields the last few days of April or the first week of May. A lot of lentil crops are in full bloom and have just started setting pods. Lentil yields are still in question since they are flowering and there hasn’t been any real heat to force pod setting. In contrast, in the past two years, there have been at least a few fields where I could have done an accurate pod count. 

      Many canola crops are still vibrant yellow and cereal crops that I stopped to count were shedding the last of their flowers.  There has been a lack of hot days in the area to spur on growth and force crops to shed their flowers and set seed.

       

      Durum head with flowers still attached on July 23, 2020

       

      Lentil field with lots of flowers and very few pods on July 22, 2020

       

      Rotation

      Farmers in southwestern Saskatchewan adhere to a stricter rotation than they did just five years ago. The market sent out very strong price signals in durum and lentils before seeding.  In 2015, I would have expected to see almost nothing else except these two crops. This year, durum is the prevalent cereal, however, barley crops were not hard to come across.  If you perch on a hill and look around, a quarter of the fields you see will be yellow, indicating oilseeds. There are several lentil fields, however, pea crops dot the landscape as well. But 2016 is still fresh in everyone’s mind when fusarium downgraded durum and aphanomyces and other diseases devastated pulse crops. This area is now much more mindful of rotation.  

       

      Canola field still in bloom on July 23, 2020

       

      Pockets of Dryness

      As per usual, there are pockets of dryness around southwestern Saskatchewan. You can find dry pockets around Gull Lake, Eastend, Frontier, and Val Marie.  They aren’t very big and have had some moisture so there is a crop – the question is how big? Some areas such as Ponteix, Admiral, and Gravelbourg look good now and will need some more moisture to finish off the crop.

      All in all, the yield potential for durum, lentils, canola, and peas is good to great.  The only question left to answer for harvest is what’s the grain yield and quality?

      Check out more from FarmLink’s Crop Tour on Twitter. 

      Want to hear more? Dan Hawkins is presenting regional findings during our 2020 Crop Tour webinar on August 5th, 2020 at 11:00 AM CDT. Click here to register.

       

      Two moose in a flowering pea field on July 21, 2020

      FarmLink clients heard it first! Get impactful grain marketing advice you can trust. Try our recommendations for one month. Sign up below.

      ARCHIVE

      • December 16, 2020

        “Why pay for grain marketing support?”

        We get asked this question all the time, and rightfully so. Grain marketing is a complex team effort. But in

      • August 4, 2020

        Moisture Blossoms Opportunity, Blooms Challenge Resistance

        #BootsOnTheGround is exactly what the Crop Tour is all about – I pushed over 2,000 km scouting various crops in

      View full archive  
      TRY OUR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 1 MONTH
         
      CONTACT US

        1 (877) 376-5465
        [email protected]

      HEAD OFFICE

      110 - 93 Lombard Ave.
      Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 3B1

      SASKATOON OFFICE

      100-2103 Airport Drive
      Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7L 6W2

      KINDERSLEY OFFICE

      Suite 2 ,1302 5ft Street East
      P.O. BOX 1164, Kindersley, Saskatchewan S0L 1S0

      Copyright © 2016 FarmLink Marketing Solutions. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy
      • Solutions
      • Team
      • Blog
      • Crop Tour
      • History
      • Login
      • Contact
      • Employment
      FarmLink